What Type of Credit Card Rewards Do You Prefer?

Filed in archive Credit on January 20, 2007

Most credit card holders these days are choosing cards that offer some sort of reward. It may be cash back, it may be gift cards, it might be merchandise, it might be travel rewards, it might be vats of ice cream (not really, but I liked the picture at left and I'm trying to tie it in).

I just used some reward points today in a rather boring way. I got a couple of gift cards to places we often shop, Target and Amazon. I was feeling sensible.

But in the past I have had period where I accumulated a lot of points, and I've used them for big travel rewards, a bike, a TV/VCR combo, an iPod---all sorts of good stuff. I always felt slightly guilty about using them for these things---not the travel rewards so much, but the other stuff that I didn't really need, but that I wanted. I could have gotten straight cash or gift cards to places I'd shop anyway, but I used the rewards to treat myself to things I probably wouldn't have pulled the trigger on if I had had to pay in real cash. Essentially I did use the equivalent of cash to buy these things, but justified it to myself by the fact that the cash was never in hand, or that strictly speaking I couldn't have gotten actual money, just gift cards that were the equivalent of money, blah, blah, blah...

How do you use your points? Are you sensible with them, or do you use them for treats that you wouldn't normally pay out of pocket for? What's your favorite type of reward or reward card? Come on, you can tell me.